It’s Time To Get Specific About Quality: LifePort Patient Care System

December 2005

Quality means different things to different people. Quality is an empty platitude unless you have a quantifiable means to measure it. So, how do you measure quality, especially as it relates to an air ambulance service?

AirCARE1™ is focused on quality in two specific areas – quality of patient care and quality of customer service. This is the first article in a series describing how we define and measure quality.

Introducing Our LifePort Patient Care System

We know almost all patients being transported in an air ambulance are forced to lie on used and uncomfortable stretchers not conducive for long flights. Imagine lying on a thin mattress pad, with your knees in a straight position for hours on end. It’s not so bad when you are in a ground-based ambulance being transferred between facilities, which is usually over in a few minutes.

For patients that spend many hours on a long distance jet flight, their lower back becomes sore. They’re unable to get into a comfortable position, and end up squirming around to relieve the discomfort. Now, picture laying on a 4-inch thick mattress with the ability to set and change the elevation of a knee support system for comfort. This additional feature, included with every flight we make, is a major relief to the discomfort felt by every patient. We know a comfortable patient is under less physical and emotional stress, and that is a huge benefit for the patient (and their family members joining them on the flight). Our commitment to this level of quality is so strong we contracted with LifePort, the industry leader in patient care systems, to customize our AirCARE1™ stretchers to be above and beyond normal industry standards – so our patients could experience the best total comfort during their flight.

AirCARE1™ is currently the only air ambulance company in the nation who provides patients with a four-inch mattress as opposed to the current industry standard of two inches. We are also the only air ambulance company in the industry who has installed a knee bracket in our stretcher system. This bracket prevents the patient from sliding on the stretcher during take off and landings and provides comfortable patient positioning during flight. These two features alone provides a comfort level patients really can feel and measure.

Our Commitment of Excellence is measurable to patients, since we provide a higher level of care and service that they experience first hand during their flight.

Future articles will continue to explain how AirCARE1™ provides the best Quality of Care. If you would like to have the articles e-mailed directly to you, please sign up on our web site www.AirCareOne.com.